May Graduate Mo Siddiq Receives National Science Foundation Support
for Graduate Study

Most recipients of the prestigious National Science Foundation
Graduate Research Fellowships are first- and second-year graduate
students - but IU's own Mo Siddiq received the honor as an
undergraduate.

Siddiq, who graduated in May 2012 with a degree in biology, attributes
his success to his time spent in Assistant Professor Kristi Montooth's
laboratory. Often, undergraduates spend their time helping out rather
than developing ideas: Siddiq said this was not the case for him.

"I spent enough time in the lab and around people to know how to come up
with a set of experiments that will test a hypothesis," he said.

Part of the reason that his undergraduate experience was distinct
from others may be that he received several HHC research grants. While
students sometimes must take on summer jobs, Siddiq was able to dedicate
all his time to research. His work is even in the process of being
published in two peer-reviewed publications.

"As an undergraduate, your goal is to get familiar with how to do
science," Siddiq said. "Over four years, I've received excellent
training." He credits his love of science and success to the
wonderful mentorship and guidance he has received from both Montooth and
graduate student Luke Hoekstra.
"In science, I think you have to simultaneously crave and cringe
at criticism, and sometimes the people I've worked with have been very
critical," Siddiq said. "It's made me a better scientist."

Now, as a recipient of an NSF Fellowship, Siddiq will receive a
$30,000 per year stipend and tuition support while pursuing his graduate
degree in the University of Chicago's Department of Ecology and
Evolution.

"It's a big, new pond," Siddiq said. "I was blessed with my
experience at IU, and now, to be part of that storied department, to
learn new techniques and ways of thinking will be awesome - I loved the
graduate school environment during my visit."

To be awarded an NSF Fellowship, Siddiq said, applicants must
submit a well-proposed idea for a research project and demonstrate the
capability to fulfill the project.

"Receiving this award speaks to the outstanding degree of
independence and creativity in research that Mo has achieved during his
four years in our lab," Montooth said. "His undergraduate research
experience has pushed him to synthesize ideas across fields of biology in
ways that students rarely achieve in the classroom."

His research at IU in Montooth's lab dealt with evolutionary
genetics with Drosophila, commonly known as fruit flies. Siddiq has
always been fascinated with genes; his work has explored the consequences
that genetic interactions in various environments have for organisms.

In his graduate work, he looks forward to exploring new
questions: Why do we see new forms and functions, what underlies the
diversity of these features, and how do these features evolve?

For his NSF Fellowship, Siddiq proposed a project that
incorporates these questions and his background in Drosophila genetics.
Fruit flies in the Caribbean islands have specific pigment patterns, and
he would like to find out why and how this variation exists.

While the general public may not have an interest in fruit fly
pigment patterns, Siddiq said, the processes that underlie them are
likely to be highly conserved across animals - thus, characterizing them
could provide deeper insight into gene expression and development for
other organisms.

After completing his degree, Siddiq intends to stay in academia.
"I view communication and mentorship as extremely important,"
Siddiq said, "and science as a public service. I want to be in a position
to share my knowledge with as many people as possible."